This application is related to the following copending patent applications: application Ser. No. 08/948,625 filed Oct. 10, 1997; application Ser. No. 08/949,133 filed Oct. 10, 1997; application Ser. No. 09/106,686 filed Jun. 29, 1998; application Ser. No. 09/337,077 filed Jun. 21, 1999; application Ser. No. 09/412,557 filed Oct. 5, 1999, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,325,811B1; application Ser. No. 09/412,996; filed Oct. 5, 1999; application Ser. No. 09/413,225 filed Oct. 5, 1999; and 09/957,174 filed Sep. 20, 2001 which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Ultrasonic instruments, including both hollow core and solid core instruments, are used for the safe and effective treatment of many medical conditions. Ultrasonic instruments, and particularly solid core ultrasonic instruments, are advantageous because they may be used to cut and/or coagulate organic tissue using energy in the form of mechanical vibrations transmitted to a surgical end-effector at ultrasonic frequencies. Ultrasonic vibrations, when transmitted to organic tissue at suitable energy levels and using a suitable end-effector, may be used to cut, dissect, or cauterize tissue. Ultrasonic instruments utilizing solid core technology are particularly advantageous because of the amount of ultrasonic energy that may be transmitted from the ultrasonic transducer through the waveguide to the surgical end-effector. Such instruments are particularly suited for use in minimally invasive procedures, such as endoscopic or laparoscopic procedures, wherein the end-effector is passed through a trocar to reach the surgical site.
Ultrasonic vibration is induced in the surgical end-effector by, for example, electrically exciting a transducer which may be constructed of one or more piezoelectric or magnetostrictive elements in the instrument hand piece. Vibrations generated by the transducer section are transmitted to the surgical end-effector via an ultrasonic waveguide extending from the transducer section to the surgical end-effector. The waveguides and end-effectors are designed to resonate at the same frequency as the transducer. Therefore, when an end-effector is attached to a transducer the overall system frequency is still the same frequency as the transducer itself.
The amplitude of the longitudinal ultrasonic vibration at the tip, d, behaves as a simple sinusoid at the resonant frequency as given by:d=A sin(ωt)  (equation 1)where:                ω=the radian frequency which equals 2π times the cyclic frequency, f and        A=the zero-to-peak amplitude.        
The longitudinal excursion is defined as the peak-to-peak (p-t-p) amplitude, which is just twice the amplitude of the sine wave or 2A.
Solid core ultrasonic surgical instruments may be divided into two types, single element end-effector devices and multiple-element end-effector. Single element end-effector devices include instruments such as scalpels, and ball coagulators, see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,957. While such instruments as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,957 have been found eminently satisfactory, there are limitations with respect to their use, as well as the use of other ultrasonic surgical instruments. For example, single-element end-effector instruments have limited ability to apply blade-to-tissue pressure when the tissue is soft and loosely supported. Substantial pressure is necessary to effectively couple ultrasonic energy to the tissue. This inability to grasp the tissue results in a further inability to fully coapt tissue surfaces while applying ultrasonic energy, leading to less-than-desired hemostasis and tissue joining.
The use of multiple-element end-effectors such as clamping coagulators include a mechanism to press tissue against an ultrasonic blade, that can overcome these deficiencies. A clamp mechanism disclosed as useful in an ultrasonic surgical device has been described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,636,943 and 3,862,630 to Balamuth. Generally, however, the Balamuth device, as disclosed in those patents, does not coagulate and cut sufficiently fast, and lacks versatility in that it cannot be used to cut/coagulate without the clamp because access to the blade is blocked by the clamp.
Ultrasonic clamp coagulators such as, for example, those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,322,055 and 5,893,835 provide an improved ultrasonic surgical instrument for cutting/coagulating tissue, particularly loose and unsupported tissue, wherein the ultrasonic blade is employed in conjunction with a clamp for applying a compressive or biasing force to the tissue, whereby faster coagulation and cutting of the tissue, with less attenuation of blade motion, are achieved.
Improvements in technology of curved ultrasonic instruments such as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/106,686 previously incorporated herein by reference, have created needs for improvements in other aspects of curved clamp coagulators. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,873 describes an ultrasonic clamp coagulating instrument having an end-effector including a clamp arm comprising a tissue pad. In the configuration shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,873 the clamp arm and tissue pad are straight.
The shape of an ultrasonic surgical blade or end-effector used in a clamp coagulator device defines at least four important aspects of the instrument. These are: (1) the visibility of the end-effector and its relative position in the surgical field, (2) the ability of the end-effector to access or approach targeted tissue, (3) the manner in which ultrasonic energy is coupled to tissue for cutting and coagulation, and (4) the manner in which tissue can be manipulated with the ultrasonically inactive end-effector. It would be advantageous to provide an improved ultrasonic clamp coagulator optimizing these four aspects of the instrument.
However, as features are added to ultrasonic surgical instrument blades, the altered shape and asymmetries cause the blade to become unbalanced, meaning that the blade has the tendency to vibrate in directions other than the longitudinal direction along the length of the instrument. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/106,686 previously incorporated herein by reference, addressed balancing blades proximal to functional asymmetries using balance asymmetries. While U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/106,686 has proven eminently successful at balancing blades and waveguides proximal to the balance asymmetry, there are some applications where some balancing may be desirable within the functional portion of an asymmetric blade.
It would be desirable to provide a balanced ultrasonic surgical instrument blade within the functional area of the blade to optimize instrument performance. The blade described herein has been developed to address this desire.